Sunday July 18, 2021 MaryEllen Uthlaut

Theme: "Flip-flops" - The second part of each theme entry is a swapped part of the first half. 

22A. The drive-through diner scene that was cut became a __: TAKEOUT OUTTAKE.

36A. The girls who spent the night prioritized chat time at the __: SLEEPOVER OVERSLEEP.

53A. When the dog got loose, some house plants __: ENDED UP UPENDED.

81A. The casual quarterback made an __: OFFHAND HAND-OFF.

99A. A navel ring is a piercing one may __: WEAR UNDER UNDERWEAR.

120A. The fast-learning police cadet had the __: PAT-DOWN DOWN PAT.

Sometimes it's easy for me to understand the theme but hard to explain. Today's is a good example.

I know we call "End up" & "Pat down" phrasal verbs, but what do you call nouns like "takeout" and "sleepover"? 

Across:

1. Wretched: ABJECT. Lots of great 6's in this grid.

7. Mount Rainier gateway: TACOMA.

13. Hoops statistic: ASSIST.

19. Taste: FLAVOR.

20. In favor of Mideast unity: PAN-ARAB.

 21. Arty: CHI-CHI. Golfers know this "arty" guy. Chi Chi Rodriguez.

24. Right after this: HERE ON.

25. Fall garden?: EDEN. Nice clue.

26. Riverbank residue: SILT.

27. Parisian season: ETE. Summer.

28. Vote of support: AYE.

29. What Jill has that Jack doesn't?: DOT. The dot over the i in "Jill".

30. Break: REST.

31. Stab: TRY.

32. 1956 title film monster: RODAN. More powerful than the Godzilla.

34. Smart: NATTY.

41. LP's 33 1/3: RPM.

44. Browsing annoyances: ADS.

45. Wordless agreement: NOD.

46. Sugary ending: OSE. Lactose, e.g.

47. Reduce: PARE.

48. Long: YEARN.

50. Shot __: competitive event: PUT. Also 4D. Track contests: EVENTS. I don't think I can name one shot putter.

51. Privileged people: ELITE. I chuckled at the "scheduling conflict" excuse of that anonymous space flight guy.

57. False front: FACADE.

63. Get into: DON.

64. What a stationary orrery part may represent: SUN. I did not know the word "orrery", the solar system model.

65. Clarifying Latin words: ID EST.

67. Grew dimmer: WANED.

68. Sweetens, as yams: CANDIES. Staple in our home during Chinese Spring Festival period.

70. Iraqi currency: DINAR.

72. Modified for the better: AMENDED.

74. Private: INNER.

75. Barely sufficient: SCANT.

77. Stroke that makes a rally irrelevant: ACE. Tennis.

78. Surrealist German-French painter: ARP (Jean). Here's his "Shirt Front and Fork". I just see a fork.

79. Gazes fixedly: STARES.

86. Expand: ADD TO.

88. Bossy utterance: MOO.

89. African capital on the 30th parallel: CAIRO.

90. "It is a __ told by an idiot": Macbeth: TALE.

94. What chatty tongues do?: WAG. Ha.

95. Poke fun at: KID.

96. Mrs., in Madrid: SRA.

98. Apply a new hue to: DYE.

105. It has pipes and keys: ORGAN. We had to call a junk guy to haul our old organ away.

106. Source of some overhead footage: DRONE.

107. Apple operating system: IOS.

108. Hadrian's defense: WALL. Hadrian's Wall.

112. Follow (along) closely: TAG.

113. "It totally happened!": WAY. I don't understand this clue.

115. Memorable first name in soccer: MIA. Hamm, who lives in Bill G's neighborhood.

116. Small racer: KART.

117. Sailing: ASEA.

118. Indicating stress: ITALIC.

123. Most trifling: MEREST.

124. Fail to take seriously: SNEER AT.

125. Red-skinned root: RADISH. These are daikon radishes. Staple winter food for me.

126. Current events?: EDDIES. Another great clue.

127. Soaked through: SODDEN.

128. Demands and gets: EXACTS.

Down:

1. Following: AFTER.

2. Business end of an ax: BLADE.

3. "North and South" trilogy author John __: JAKES. Learning moment for me.

5. Bill's partner: COO.

6. Confided in: TRUSTED.

7. Showing strain: TAUT.

8. One lining up for food?: ANT. Ah, cute clue angle.

9. Took care of the food: CATERED.

10. Strong speaker: ORATOR.

11. Be resourceful: MAKE DO.

12. Prez on a penny: ABE.

13. Feeling it after a workout: ACHY.

14. Lusters: SHEENS. Spellcheck does not like the plural form.

15. Honorary title: SIR.

16. Picnic pitcherful: ICED TEA. This is the popular summer drink in Hong Kong. Lemon tea. Iced of course.

17. NBA's Steph Curry, frequently: SHOOTER.

18. Early photograph: TINTYPE.

20. Sea anemone, e.g.: POLYP.

23. Gives out: TIRES.

28. "__ of robins ... ": Kilmer: A NEST.

33. Refrains from: AVOIDS.

35. The Eiger, for one: ALP.

37. Secure, as a job or a role: LAND.

38. "Get __": James Brown biopic: ON UP.

39. Choose at the polls: VOTE.

40. Shipping hazard: REEF.

41. Bread-making grain: RYE. My friend Carmen is very into Russian rye bread now. She also likes Japanese milk bread. Guangzhou is very international.

42. Locket, for one: PENDANT.

43. Singer/actress known as the "Queen of Pop": MADONNA.

49. Cause to become: RENDER.

50. Mae West's "I used to be Snow White, but I drifted," e.g.: PUN.

51. Icelandic literary work: EDDA.

52. Sidelong glance: LEER.

54. Consume: USE.

55. Kitty: PUSS.

56. Beethoven's __: NINTH.

58. Response to the sublime: AWE.

59. Largest English-speaking country: CANADA. Wow. Not US?

60. Google operating system: ANDROID.

61. Cook, as much county fair fare: DEEP-FRY.

62. Announcer Hall: EDD. Jay Leno's announcer on "The Tonight Show" (1992 to 2004).

66. Gauge on the dash: TACH.

68. Opposite of trans: CIS. Gender-wise.

69. Hot temper: IRE.

70. Inane: DAFT.

71. Lowdown: INFO.

73. "Give __ minute": ME A.

76. Often "old" eccentric: CODGER.

77. Big deal: ADO.

80. Like fireplace logs: SAWN.

82. Within: AMID.

83. Plant stem joint: NODE.

84. Final Four org.: NCAA.

85. Moriarty, to Holmes: FOE. Professor Moriarty & Sherlock Holmes.

87. __ longlegs: DADDY. Looks like a spider.

90. Cheat on one's sweet, say: TWO-TIME.

91. Freshened up, in a way: AERATED. It seems that golf courses all aerate their greens in fall.

92. Slowpoke: LAGGARD.

93. Often titled stretch: ERA.

95. Massaged: KNEADED.

96. Excalibur, e.g.: SWORD.

97. Put back as it was: RESTORE. Lost all my iPod downloads after I hit the restoring to factory settings button. Good old classic.

100. Not sensible: UNWISE.

101. Pecorino __ cheese: ROMANO.

102. __ Kingdom: UNITED.

103. Laughing: RIANT. Only saw word in crosswords.

104. Its capital is Kigali: RWANDA.

109. Gelatin garnish: ASPIC. Jellied pork, Chinese style. I think Vietnamese has similar dish also.

110. "Not in the __": LEAST.

111. Framework strips: LATHS.

114. Book after John: ACTS.

116. Nine-time U.S. skating champ Michelle: KWAN.

119. Gift with an aloha: LEI.

120. Brief afterthoughts: PSS.

121. Metal source: ORE.

122. Become more intense, as the moon: WAX.

 C.C.

Saturday, July 17, 2021 Mollie Cowger

  Themeless Saturday by Molly Cowger

A lovely interview with Mollie

I enjoyed Mollie's challenging puzzle and learning about two contemporary women, one historical woman and a male Chinese artist/activist. Here is what this Dallas girl had to say to us:

Hi Gary,

I started working seriously on crossword construction last summer, and it's been such a source of joy during the past year. This puzzle is one of the first few themeless puzzles I made, and though I think my sensibilities have changed a bit (e.g. I'd be hesitant to put A-BOMBS in a puzzle nowadays), there's a bunch of stuff in here I like. My favorite clue is [Draw for some pictures] for STAR POWER. 

The seed entry for the puzzle was ISABEL WILKERSON - it's always exciting when you realize someone whose work you admire has a 15-letter name! I'm tickled by the fact that the two grid-spanning entries, ISABEL WILKERSON and EXERCISE REGIMEN, have the same meter - both words in each entry are dactyls  I believe (someone who knows more about poetry than I do can confirm or deny). That wasn't intentional, but I noticed and appreciated it when looking back at the grid. 

You can find more of my work on my blog, Crosswords From Outer Space, where I post puzzles (usually themeless, usually on the challenging side) every two weeks. 

Mollie

This just in: I found Mollie on FaceBook and saw she and I have a common FB friend. It turned out that the common friend is my granddaughter's husband in Lincoln and had met Mollie through high school debate forums. Cue "It's A Small World"!

Across:

1. Parenting pair, perhaps: DADS 

5. Word from the Aramaic for "father": ABBOT.

10. Onetime capital of the Mughal Empire: AGRA - AGRA is our familiar crossword city that is the home of the Taj Mahal but with Saturday cluing

14. Throw off: EMIT.

15. Ambition: DRIVE.

16. Leftover bit: DREG - A Sinatra classic

17. "The Chi" creator Waithe: LENA - (Show is pronounced The SHY for south Chicago) LENA is the show's creator, writer and executive producer

18. Word with ice or rain: MAKER - My other son-in-law is well connected in Lincoln and is a "RAIN MAKER" for his architecture firm

19. Fermented seasoning: MISO - MISO (みそ or 味噌) is a traditional Japanese seasoning produced by fermenting soybeans with salt and kōji (the fungus Aspergillus oryzae) and sometimes rice, barley, seaweed, or other ingredients.

20. It may require some heavy lifting: EXERCISE REGIMEN - Don't overdo on the first day!

23. Leaves spots?: TEA POTS - You can see a good spot for tea leaves inside this TEA POT. Very tricky, Mollie!😁

24. Coastal hazard: TSUNAMI.

25. Checks at the bar?: ESTOPS - Legal bars (Oh, that kind of bar!)  that prevents (checks) a person from asserting a claim or fact that is inconsistent with a position that the person has previously taken.

26. Phony: SHAM.

27. "Mom" network: CBS.

28. "Sunflower Seeds" artist Ai with an echoic name: WEIWEI - Here is Ai WEIWEI (eye way way) holding some of the 100,000,000 porcelain "Sunflower Seeds" he had made by 1,600 artisans over several  years. The rest of these "seeds" are on the floor behind him in 32. London's __ Modern: TATE.. Meaning

30. Go for the gold?: SMELT.

35. Dilutes: THINS.

37. Laudatory poems: ODES.

38. "Your Movie Sucks" author: EBERT - His lowest rating of all time goes to Deuce Bigelow: Male Gigolo. 

40. Old-style writing need: INK POT - Yes, I am old enough to have gone to school that had desks on sled runners and an INK POT in every writing surface!

42. Get lost, say: ERR.

43. Well's opposite: RARE - I ask for my steaks to be medium RARE, never "well done"

45. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty subjects: A-BOMBS.

49. Lincoln biographer: TARBELL - She wrote a four volume biography of Lincoln. IDA TARBELL also was a well known muckraker who took on Standard Oil

51. Get: PROCURE.

52. "Caste" author who was the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in journalism: ISABEL WILKERSON - Learning abut this woman and seeing her first and last names are both dactyls is more learning provided by Mollie.

54. Actress Sorvino: MIRA - Her IMDB

55. Having ups and downs, in a way: TIDAL.

56. Quatro x dos: OCHO - 4 x 2 = 8 in Spanish 

57. Subject for pastors and philosophers: EVIL - or Disney studios - Cruella dE VIL

58. Where a 1980 "miracle" occurred: ON ICE - Lake Placid Olympics - Still one of the most amazing events in American sports history! "Do you believe in miracles?"

59. String some words together?: SLUR.

60. Lick, maybe: SEAL - Sealed With A Kiss?

61. More out there: ODDER.

62. Beneficiary of a Sonic boom?: SEGA - SEGA did experience a sales boom with Sonic The Hedgehog. Very clever again, Mollie!

Down:

1. Strike: DELETE.

2. Charging choices: AMEXES 

3. Patronize, as a bistro: DINE AT.

4. Draw for some pictures: STAR POWER - Not even the STAR POWER of Gene Hackman and Dan Ackroyd could draw enough movie goers to this stinker that lost $10M

5. Confesses: ADMITS IT and 53. "It was me": I DID.

6. Top __: BRASS.

7. Icon on some "Share the road" signs: BIKE.

8. Analyze to a fault: OVERTHINK - "Hey, that molehill looks like a mountain to me"

9. Saint of Ávila: TERESA - The story of this amazing Spanish Caremelite nun

10. Forum overseer, briefly: ADMIN - Having an ADMINISTRATOR oversee a forum can stifle input

11. Reacted to pain: GRIMACED.

12. Share a look with?: RESEMBLE - I loved (eventually) this very cool clue/fill with some odd syntax!

Angelina Jolie            Melissa Baizen

13. Ones in a struggle: AGONISTS - Learning for me

21. Manage: COPE.

22. Periodontist's concern: GUMS.

26. River in some Renoir paintings: SEINE - The SEINE and the Thames don't follow my hooked on phonics training! 😊

29. Dizzying, as a romance: WHIRLWIND.

31. Contest with hogs: MOTOCROSS - Harley Davidson motorcycles are often called "hogs". In the 70's they entered the MOTOCROSS market with this MX1000

32. Elements of a course schedule?: TEE TIMES - Mollie tweaked "course schedule" from a classroom to the golf course. Granddaughter made a TEE TIME of 8:15 a.m. for us yesterday.

33. Irritating: ABRASIVE.

34. Bottle garden relatives: TERRARIA - Here are some lovely TERRARIA

36. Fourth of July purchase: SPARKLER.

39. The oldest known living one is named Methuselah: TREE - This California hike will take you past Bristlecone Pines that germinated before the pyramids were built. The location of the actual 4,852 year old Methuselah Tree is kept secret by the Park Service. More info

41. Orchestral tuner: OBOE - What you didn't know this song used an OBOE?

44. So very: ALL TOO.

46. Brawn: MUSCLE.

47. Fraternal greeting: BROHUG.

48. Hispanic title: SENORA.

50. Mavs' sport: B-BALL - Their NBA logo contains the blending of a Maverick and a basketball.

51. __ setting: PLACE - My Goodness! Where would I even start for a meal at Downton Abbey?